1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the marking of soft tissue specimens to preserve or reconstruct the orientation of a soft tissue specimen after the specimen is removed from the patient""s body.
2. Description of the Related Art
The marking of a biopsy specimen to indicate the orientation of the specimen within the body may be crucial for later treatment. For example, knowledge of the exact orientation of a biopsy specimen of breast tissue is an important aspect of any breast conserving therapy for breast cancer. A proper biopsy should have good margins of normal, uninvolved breast tissue surrounding the cancerous lesion within the breast. If a margin is xe2x80x9cdirtyxe2x80x9d (close to or involved with the lesion), the risk of recurrence of the cancer increases. What distance actually constitutes a good margin remains controversial. Large margins are safest, but may result in an overly large cavity within the breast, which may result in a less than satisfactory cosmetic result. Smaller margins, on the other hand, result in smaller cavities within the breast, but increase the risk that some of the cells on the periphery of the margin will be found to be involved in the lesion. Moreover, smaller margins may increase the risk of seeding cancerous cells within the breast. For example, 1 cm margins are universally accepted as safe, while some favor the excision of specimens with margins of as little as 1 mm. The National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project (NSABP), the major study group for breast treatment, has previously endorsed a margin equal to one normal cell between the cancer and the cut edge of the specimen. The mainstream approach, however, appears to call for 5 mm to 10 mm margins between the cancerous lesion and the cut edge of the specimen. Except for some women with Ductal Carcinoma In Situ (DCIS), women who undergo biopsies with such margins will also receive post-operative radiation therapy to treat any remaining cancer within the breast.
Best practices indicate that the biopsy specimen should be marked after removal thereof form the patient, in case one or more cut surfaces contain tumor or are close to the tumor. If the surgeon learns from the pathologist that the inferior margin is xe2x80x9cpositivexe2x80x9d, the he or she will take the patient back to the operating room and excise additional tissue from the inferior aspect of the cavity. If the specimen is not adequately marked, then tissue from the entire cavity must be excised. This may lead to the unnecessary excision of a vast amount of normal breast tissue, leading to an unsatisfactory cosmetic result. For at least these reasons, specimen marking for orientation is essential and should be an integral part of any breast (or any other soft tissue) cancer treatment protocol.
Many surgeons mark the excised specimen by sewing a suture onto different sides of the specimen (usually two or three sides). An example of such marking would be a short suture to mark the superior aspect of the specimen, a long suture to mark the lateral aspect thereof and a suture with short and long tails to mark the deep aspect of the specimen. If the surgeon determines that a radiograph or an X-ray is needed to confirm that the excised specimen contains suspicious microcalcifications, the specimen may be sent to a radiology department before the pathologist receives the specimen. The specimen is then typically flattened between two parallel plates to take the radiograph. This completely distorts the specimen, and it will never return to its original shape. This distortion renders the reconstruction of the specimen orientation difficult. For example, after a flattened specimen is returned to the surgeon, the sutures for the superior and lateral aspects may appear on the same side of the specimen.
A second and better way to mark specimens is to mark each side of the excised specimen (6 sides total) with a different color of stain. In this manner, if the specimen is distorted following a radiograph, the colored stain will still dictate the original orientation of the excised specimen within the surrounding tissue.
When a tissue specimen is removed from the breast, it should be removed without disturbing its original orientation within the breast. However, during the actual excision when the specimen is still within the breast, it may twist and/or turn, which changes its orientation even before it is removed. Thus, marking a specimen after removing it from the patient may not preserve the original orientation of the specimen. Therefore, even conscientious marking of an excised specimen may not preserve the true orientation of the lesion within the surrounding tissue. In turn, such marking may lead to confusion, misinformation and ultimately may result in a less than optimal treatment of the patient.
What are needed, therefore, are improved methods and systems for tissue marking. What are also needed are methods, systems and devices for preserving the orientation of tissue specimens.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide methods and systems for tissue marking. It is another object of the present invention to provide methods, systems and devices for preserving the orientation of tissue specimens.
In accordance with the above-described objects and those that will be mentioned and will become apparent below, a method of marking an orientation of a cut specimen of tissue prior to excision thereof from a body, includes steps of disposing a tissue-marking probe in the body adjacent the cut specimen, the tissue-marking probe including a tissue-marking tool configured to selectively mark the cut specimen and marking a surface of the cut specimen with the tissue-marking tool such that the orientation of the cut specimen within the body is discernable after the cut specimen is excised from the body.
The tissue-marking tool may be configured to selectively bow out of and back into a window defined near a distal tip of the probe and the marking step may include a step of selectively bowing the tissue-marking tool out of the window and following the surface of the cut specimen while rotating the probe. The disposing step may dispose the tissue-marking probe directly within the tissue. The disposing step may dispose the tissue-marking probe within a cannula disposed adjacent the cut specimen. The tissue-marking tool may include an RF cutting tool and the marking step may include a step of coagulating a portion of the surface of the cut specimen with the RF cutting tool. The coagulating step may include a step of momentarily increasing an RF power delivered to the portion of the surface of the cut specimen by the RF cutting tool. Alternatively, the coagulating step may include a step of momentarily maintaining the RF cutting tool substantially immobile on the portion of the surface of the specimen while the RF power delivered to the RF cutting tool is maintained constant.
The marking step may include a step of delivering dye onto the surface of the cut specimen. The dye may include, for example, Methylene Blue, Congo Red and/or Lymphazurin(copyright) Blue. The marking step may include delivering a first dye of a first color to a first portion of the surface of the cut specimen and delivering a second dye of a second color to a second portion of the surface of the cut specimen. The first portion may include a proximal and/or a distal end of the cut specimen. The dye-delivering step may deliver the dye at a selectable graduated rate to the surface of the specimen. In this manner, the dye may be delivered darker to a first portion of the surface of the specimen and may be delivered relatively lighter to a second portion of the surface of the specimen.
The present invention is also a soft tissue excisional method, comprising the steps of disposing a probe within tissue from which a tissue specimen may be to be taken, the probe including an RF tissue cutting tool configured to selectively bow out of and back into a window defined near a distal tip of the probe; rotating the probe while applying RF energy to the RF cutting tool and selectively bowing the cutting tool out of the window to cut the specimen from the tissue and selectively coagulating selected portions of a surface of the specimen with the RF cutting tool such by that the orientation of the specimen within the body may be discernable after the cut specimen may be excised from the body.
The method may further include a step of isolating the cut specimen from surrounding tissue by at least partially encapsulating the cut specimen with a thin flexible film deployed in a path of the RF cutting tool.
The present invention is also an intra-tissue therapeutic device, comprising a probe body, the probe body defining at least one internal dye lumen and a first window near a distal tip of the probe body, and a tissue-marking tool configured to selectively bow out of and back into the first window, the tissue-marking tool defining at least one dye port in fluid communication with the at least one dye lumen.
The device may further include one or more dye reservoirs in fluid communication with one or more dye lumens internal to the probe body. The dye reservoirs may be disposed within the probe body or external thereto. The probe body further may include a tissue-cutting tool. The tissue-cutting tool may be configured to selectively bow out and back into the probe body and the tissue-marking tool may be configured to follow in a path of the tissue-cutting tool as the device is rotated. The tissue-cutting tool may bow out and back into the first window. The probe body may define a second window near the distal tip thereof and the cutting-tool may be configured to selectively bow out of and back into the second window. The distal tip may define a distal dye port, the distal dye port being in fluid communication with the internal lumen(s). The devices disclosed herein may be configured for a single use and may be disposable. The dye reservoir(s) may be pre-loaded with a dye, such as, for example, Methylene Blue, Congo Red and/or Lymphazurin(copyright) Blue. The cutting tool may include an RF cutting tool and may further include a distal RF tissue-cutting tool disposed in the distal tip of the probe body.
A specimen isolator may be coupled to the tissue-marking tool, the specimen isolator being adapted to isolate the specimen from tissue surrounding the specimen. The specimen isolator may include a thin flexible film of material, one end thereof being attached to the probe body and another end thereof being attached to the tissue-marking tool. The material of the tissue isolator may be selected from a group including a polyorganosiloxane, a polydiorganosiloxane, an inorganic elastomer, a silicone elastomer, a teraphthalate, a tetrafluoroethylene, a polytetrafluoroethylene, a polyimid, a polyester, Kevlar(copyright) and/or M5(copyright), for example. The specimen isolator may be configured to extend radially from the probe body out of the window when the tissue-marking tool is bowed.
The present invention is also an intra-tissue therapeutic device, comprising a probe body, the probe body defining an internal tool lumen that emerges from the probe body at a tool port defined near a distal tip of the probe body; a tool actuator, and a tissue specimen stabilization tool mechanically coupled to the tool actuator, the stabilization tool including a barbed tip adapted to selectively slide within the tool lumen and extend out of the tool port to penetrate and stabilize tissue adjacent the tool port.
The internal tool lumen may be generally parallel to a longitudinal axis of the probe body near a proximal end thereof and the internal tool lumen may then curve away from the axis near the distal tip of the probe body to emerge at the tool port. A cutting tool may be disposed near the tip of the probe body. The cutting tool may include an RF cutting element that selectively bows out of and back into a window defined in the probe body, the RF cutting element being adapted to cut a volume of revolution of tissue as the probe body is rotated inside a patient""s soft tissue. The barbed tip may be configured to expand when emerging from the tool port. The device may be configured for a single use and may be disposable.
The present invention may also be viewed as a soft tissue intra-tissue therapeutic device, comprising a cutting tool adapted to cut a specimen from surrounding tissue; a tissue-marking tool adapted to mark the specimen, at least a portion of the marking tool being mechanically coupled to the cutting means, and a tissue isolator, the tissue isolation means being adapted to expand radially form the device and isolate the cut specimen from the surrounding tissue as the device may be rotated.
The cutting tool may include a radio frequency (RF) cutting tool. The RF cutting tool may include a distal RF cutting tool disposed at a distal tip of the device. The RF cutting tool may be configured to selectively bow out of and back into a body of the device to cut a volume of revolution of tissue as the device is rotated inside within the tissue. The tissue-marking tool may also be configured to deliver dye to a selected portion of a surface of the cut specimen. The tissue-marking tool may be configured to selectively bow out of and back into a body of the device and to follow a path of the cutting tool as the device may be rotated. The tissue isolator may include a thin flexible film of material, one end of the film being attached to a body of the device and another end thereof being attached to the tissue-marking tool. Means for delivering a pharmaceutical agent to the surrounding tissue may also be included, as may means for suctioning smoke, blood and/or bodily fluids.